Box fastener



F. W. GOESSLING AND J. M. GARRETT.

BOX FASTENER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 4. 1921.

Patented Jan. 10, 1922.

I/V-VE/V 70,85

,4 rro ENE Y5 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

FREDERICK w. eoRssLINe AND OHN M. GA RET or 31mm, MIssonRI,

ASSIGNORS r0 BEEHLER STEEL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF sr. LOUIS, MIS- soURI, A CORPORATION OF MIssOURI.

I BOX" rAs'rENnR.

To all wit-omit may concern:

Be it .known that we, FREDERICK XV. GosssnINe and J OHN M; GARRETT, citizens of the United States, residing in the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Box Fasteners, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will'enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to box fasteners of the type which comprise a spring-actuated, pivotally mounted latching member arranged on the inside of a box and provided at itsupper end with a hook or similar device that co-operates with a keeper on the lid of the box to hold the lidclosed.

One object of our invention is to provide a box fastener ofthe general type referred to which is so constructed that the pivots or pintle pins which connect the latching meniher to its supporting plate will not be sheared or bent when the latching member is subjected to an end thrust or to downward pressure. a 1 Another object is to provide an inexpensive box fastener in which the latching member and the supporting plate on which said latching member is mounted are sodesigned that there is'little liabilityof the latching member being twisted or broken away from the supporting plate when the upper end of the latching member is subjected tola lateral thrust or to side pressure.

And still another object of our invention is to provide a strong, rugged and inexpensive box. fastener in which the actuating spring for thelatching member .is housed inside of same and is provided with'po'rtions that serve as pintle pinsto pivotally connect the latching member to its supporting plate. Figure 1 of the drawings is a topplan View of the keeper of the fastener, showing the upper end portion of the latching memher arranged in engagement with said keeper.- .i I Y -Figure 211s aview, looking towards the inner side of the front wall of the box, showing the supporting plate on said wall which carriesthe latching member of thefastener.

Figure '3 is a side elevational view, showing. the supporting plate, the latching memp ci 0f t l Patented Jan. 10, 1922. Application filed February 4, 1921. Serial No. 442,456 i her and the keeper that cooperates with the hook on the upper end of the latching memher; and

' Figureet is a perspective view of the latch ing member. I

We have herein illustrated our invention embodied in a box fastener comprising a keeperarranged on the outside of the lid of the box and provided with an openingup through which the upper end portion of the latching member projects, but we wish it to be understoodthat the latching member and supporting plate of our improved fastener is not limited to use with an outside keeper plate but, on the contrary, is capable of use with a-kee-per plate secured to the inside of the lidof abox.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate the preferred form of our invention, A designates the latching member of the fastener, B designates a supporting plate for said latching member attachedto the inner side of one of the vertical walls of'the box, usu ally the front walll, and C designates the keeper on the lid 2 of the box which cooperates with a hook 3 on the upper end of the latching member A to retain the lid of the box in its closed position. The keeper C of the fastener herein shown is arranged on the outside of the lid 2 and is provided with a hole t up through which the hook 3 On-the latchingmember projects; said keeper being of a form now in general use and provided with a downwardly inclined striking portion 5 against which an inclined surface :OlltllGyhOOk 3 of the latching memberstrikes during. the operation of closing the lid. I

have not illustrated the sealing wire that is generally used for sealingthe fastener; but it willobe understood that inpractice a sealing wire is usually passed through an upwardly projecting flange 6 on the keeper and through the hookportion 3 of the latching member. I v i The supporting plate B preferably consists of a Y sheet metal stamping provided with a pair of integral flanges 7;that embrace the latching member A and which are longenough to securely hold the latching member in an'upright position and prevent said latching member, from cant-ing or twisting sidewise when the upper. end portion of said latching member is subjected to a lateral thrust. The latching member A also preferably consists of a sheet metal stamping of substantially channel shape in horizontal cross section arranged so that its web is presented outwardly and its side flanges will extend in parallel relationto the side flanges 7 on the supporting plate. Said latching member A is provided with an actuating spring formed preferably from a piece of spring wire that is bent or doubled so as to form two parallel parts at, shown in broken lines in Figure 2, that extend longitudinally of the latching member A on the inside of said member. The free ends of i the parallel parts w of the actuating spring are bentso as to form pintle pin portions 1 that project laterally through aligned holes in the latching member A and in the flanges 7 of the supporting plate, and thus I pivotally connect the latching member to the supporting plate B. The pintle pin portions y of the actuating spring are'preferably inclined downwardly, as shown in Figure 2, and they are also bent forwardly from the vertical plane in which the parallel parts 00 of the actuating spring lie, as shown in Figure 8, so as to cause the terminals of said pintle pin' portions y'to bear against the supporting plate B, and thus Virtually form a torsion spring which exerts pressure on the latching member A in a direction to press the upper end portion of said latching member forwardly towards the frontwall l of the box. the side flanges of the latching member A through which the pintle pin portions y of the actuating spring project preferably consist of notches 8, as shown in Figure 4;, and the openings 9 in the flanges 7 of the supporting plate through which said pintle pin portions project are preferably extended laterally into the supporting plate, as indicated at 9 in Figure 2, so as to facilitate the assembling of the latching member and supporting plate.

member A by portions 10 on said member formed by slitting the side flanges of said member and then bending said slitted por- Vtions downwardly over the parallel parts as of the actuating spring, as shown in Figure 4, but it will, of course, be understood that the j actuating spring and latching member can be combined in various other ways I Without departing from the spirit of our invention. Adjacent the lower end of the latching member A the side flanges of same are beveled went away at 11, as shown in Figure 3, so as to provide suflicient cleara ance the latchingmember and the supporting between the lower end portion of plate B to permit said latching member to rock on the pintle in portions 9 during the operation of latching the lid of thebox or The openings in The actuating spring is locked or securely connected to the latching releasing said lid from the latching member of the lock.

As previously stated, a latching member and supporting plate of the construction above described can be used with a keeper arranged on the inside of the lid of the box, but when said elements are used with a keeper arranged on the outside of the lid, it is preferable to provide means for preventing the pivots or pintle pin portions of the latching member from being sheared or bent when the exposed upper end portion of the latching member is subjected to an end thrust, as often occurs when a number of boxes are piled one on top of the other. Accordingly, we have provided the latching member A of our improved 1001; with a stop 12 that overhangs the supporting plate B,

and thus operatesto take up the end thrust on the latching member A when the exposed upper end portion of said latching member is subjected to a downward blow or pres-V sure. The stop 12 on the latching member can be formed in various ways without departing from the spirit of our invention, but the simplest way to form said stop is to provide the side flanges of the member A with forwardly projecting portions of such, di-

ally-projecting flange 13 that projects into notches 1A in the side flanges of'the latching member located directly beneath the stop 12, but it will, of course, be obvious that this flange or lateral'extension 13 on the'upper edge" of the supporting plate is not essential. V v a r A box fastener of the construction above described is inexpensive to manufacture, it is easy to assemble and there is little liability of V the latching member of same being twisted out of shape or broken away from-its supporting plate when the upper end-portion of said latching'member is subjected to a lateral thrust or to a longitudinalthrust in a direction tending to shear or bend its pivot pins, due to the fact that the supporting plate has a relatively long bearing portion that embraces the latching member and the latching member is provided with a stop thatoverhangs the upper end portion of the supporting plate. The actuating spring for the latching member is inexpensive, strong and of such a character that it will not quickly lose its resiliency,.and it performs the dual function of pivotally connecting the latching member to its supporting plate and also holding said latching member in such a position that it will snap into engagement with the keeper on the lid of the box when the lid of the box is-closed.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A box fastener provided with a latching member, a supporting plate on which said member is pivotally mounted, and cooperating means on said parts for taking up strains exerted on said latching member in a direction tending to shear or'bend the pivotal connection between said parts.

2. A box fastener provided with a latching member, a supporting element, a pivotal connection between said parts, and means on said latching member that overhangs said supporting element and takes up longitudinal strains on said latching member tending to disrupt said pivotal connection.

3. A box fastener, comprising a latching member, a supporting element, a pivotal connection between said parts, a keeper having an opening up through which the upper end portion of said latching element projects, and a stop on said latching member that overhangs said supporting element.

4. A box fastener, comprising a latching member, a supporting element, a spring interposed between said parts and provided with pintle portions that serve to pivotally connect said latching member to said supporting element, a keeper on the lid of the box up through which said latching member projects, and co-operating means on said latching member and supporting element for taking up downward thrusts on said latching member.

5. A box fastener provided with a latching member, a supporting element for said member, and an actuating spring for said latching member,separate and distinct from said member and provided with pintle portions that pivotally connect, said latching member and supporting element together.

6. A box fastener provided with a latching member, a supporting element provided with portions that embrace said member, and an actuating spring housed inside of said latching member and provided with laterally-projecting pintle portions that pass through openings in said latching member and in the portions of the supporting element that embrace said member.

7. A box fastener provided with a latching member, a supporting element provided with flanges that embrace said member, and an actuating spring housed inside of said member and formed from a piece of spring wire that is doubled to form two parallel parts having pintle portions which extend through openings in said latching member and flanges and bear against the supporting element 1n such a manner that said latching member is normally under tension.

8. A box fastener provided with a latching member, a supporting element, and a torsion spring, separate and distinct from said latching member, interposed between same and said supporting element and provided with pintle portions that serve to pivotally connect said latching member to said supporting element.

9. A box fastener provided with a latch-' ing member of substantially channel shape in horizontal cross section, a supporting plate provided with flanges that embrace said member, and an actuating spring housed inside of said latching member and provided with pintle portions extending through openings in said member and flanges and bent downwardlyand also forwardly towards said supporting plate, the side flanges of v said latching member being severed and bent so as to form retaining portions for said spring. FREDERICK W. GOESSLING. JOHN M. GARRETT. 

